Who, how and why? The nature of industry participants in agricultural industry school partnerships in Gippsland, Australia

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

This research explores the nature of industry members willing to participate in agricultural industry school partnerships (ISPs) by understanding who these participants are, and how and why they want to participate. This will contribute to a greater understanding of the nature of ISPs.

Methodology:

A mixed methods case study utilising surveys and semi-structured interviews was used to collect data from 54 agricultural industry members from 2021-2023.

Findings:

Participants overwhelmingly want to partake in ISPs to promote their industry and the range of career opportunities. How they prefer to participate is mostly through hands-on learning and storytelling. Identified barriers include time, confidence, experience and teacher understanding, which may affect how and why they want to participate.

Practical implications:

These findings will contribute to a greater understanding of the nature of agricultural ISPs, helping those creating ISPs to consider and understand all stakeholders to deliver quality future partnerships.

Theoretical implications:

This paper explores industry participants as an important component of agricultural ISPs when theorised as an ecological system.

Originality:

This research analyses industry participants’ perspectives of industry school partnerships, which are rarely identified in the literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural education
• industry perspectives
• ecological systems theory
• primary school
• high school
• mixed methods research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Some participants, who grew up living on a farm, considered that they had spent their entire life working in agriculture.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Victorian Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

M. O’Dea

Molly O’Dea is a PhD candidate at CQUniversity Australia with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Master of Teaching. Molly is currently exploring the nature of agricultural industry school partnerships in Gippsland, Australia.

A. Cosby

Amy Cosby is the Research Lead for the Agricultural Education and Extension Cluster at CQUniversity Australia with a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a PhD in Precision Agriculture. Amy currently works with educators, students, researchers and industry professionals to develop innovative programs to increase their skills and knowledge in agricultural concepts, tools and systems. Her objective is to use the knowledge derived from this research to design programs which showcase and attract the next generation agricultural workforce to the industry from diverse backgrounds.

J. Manning

Jaime Manning is a lecturer in Agriculture within the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at CQUniversity Australia. She has a B.AnVetBioSci (Hons 1) and a PhD in Precision Livestock. Her main research interests are using and incorporating technology on farms to improve the level of monitoring and welfare of livestock, whilst highlighting the diverse career opportunities available to the current and next generation workforce. Her experience in this area ensures research outcomes are industry relevant and highlight current issues facing the sector.

N. McDonald

Nicole McDonald is the Senior Research Officer with the Agritech Education and Extension cluster at CQUniversity with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (Hons 1), and a PhD in the Vocational Psychology of Agriculture. Her research focuses on the attraction, retention and development of the agricultural workforce, technology acceptance and adoption, skills development, and leadership within agriculture. Nicole’s objective is a commitment to understand, improve, and promote the quality careers that exist within food and fibre industries.

B. Harreveld

Bobby Harreveld has thirty years of research experience with continuing professional education for adults as well as development, implementation and evaluation of education and training programs. Through this work, she wants to make a positive difference for people’s access to learning with successful transitions to outcomes of significance for them.